SAN DIEGO – The two Lamborghinis are quiet these days. They sit, restlessly, behind a wall in the garage that Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has turned into his gymnasium.

"A few years ago I was riding a motorcycle two weeks before a fight and I fell off," Canelo said recently, through an interpreter, as he prepped for a workout. "I sprained my ankle and I had to train sitting down. So I don't do any of those things now when I'm getting ready.

"But after this fight I'm having a birthday party back in Guadalajara, the first one I've had in a long time. Usually I'm in training. So I'm looking forward to that."

The birthday is July 18. Alvarez will be only 24, even though he has piled up a 43-1-1 record, become a regular pay-per-view headliner, and stashed enough money to buy this $6 million, six-bedroom house, in a gated neighborhood just east of Del Mar.

The first name is all you need with Canelo, like Neymar or Beyonce.

"I remember when he first came to Las Vegas," said Don Chargin, a California fight promoter since 1951. "He had never been to the U.S. before and his weigh-in was a mob scene. People were going crazy. I think he's the most popular Mexican fighter since Ruben Olivares."

Canelo said he has his own crowd control methods back home. He goes to familiar restaurants and hangouts, where people leave him alone. "Besides, they have all the autographs and pictures by now," he said.

When it comes time to hunker down for a fight, he comes north. He said he knows his neighbors, and they even had a reception for him when he moved in, but the street has a Stepford tranquility to it.

Two of Canelo Alvarez's Lamborghini's sit in his garage.(Photo: Esther Lin, Showtime)

Since this is southern California, it doesn't have to be a mansion to bear a palatial price tag. And it also can be plush and understated, simultaneously. Canelo's house was listed as $497 per square foot, and the lot barely takes up an acre. But you can see the Pacific from the highest of the six bedrooms. The vibe inside, especially when a stormy fight looms, is pacific as well.

Eric Gomez, the matchmaker for Golden Boy Promotions, said last year that Canelo was "like all four Beatles in one" for Mexican fans. But Canelo did not just inherit the cars and the house and the squealing fans. His father Santos still runs a series of fruit stands in the Guadalajara area, and even though all seven of his sons are or were pro fighters, he only shows up for Canelo's bouts at the last minute.

"He says, 'This is your work, but first I have to take care of my work.' '' Canelo said. "I've told him that he doesn't have to work anymore, but he doesn't answer. Now I don't even want to bring it up because I'm afraid it will make him feel bad. He did a great job raising our family, because my mother is a housewife and didn't work."

Canelo is the eighth of eight kids. Brother Rigoberto was a WBA super welterweight champ who was 26-4. As you might imagine, sparring was a family hobby. When Canelo was 13, his 19-year-old brother Victor took him on.

"Back then we would pick up sticks, rocks, anything, when we fought each other," Canelo said. "But this time we put on the gloves and I was kicking his butt. Victor kept asking my father if he could go full-bore, and he did, and I still kicked his butt. Finally we pulled the gloves off and said we were going to settle it with our fists, and then everybody stepped in. That's when I thought I might be a good boxer."

He began working at the gym of Oscar Larios, a former featherweight and super-bantamweight champ, and began winning amateur tournaments. Chepo Reynoso, Canelo's trainer then and now, presented Gomez with a tape of Canelo in 2004 and predicted greatness.

"I saw a kid who looked like Richie Cunningham, and he could fight," Gomez said. "Canela" is Spanish for cinnamon, and the red-haired Canelo has a 6-year-old daughter named Emily Cinnamon.

But Gomez and Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya were just as captivated by the way Canelo revived live boxing telecasts in Mexico.

A first loss ends up a big gain

Last September Canelo lost for the first time, and in uninspiring fashion, to Mayweather. Fans were depressed. Accountants were ecstatic. The fight lured 2.2 million pay-per-view buys and was the highest-grossing PPV event in boxing history.

Then Canelo dismantled Alfredo Angulo in March. That fight drew 350,000 pay-per-view buys, which pleased Showtime executives. A bout between Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez, both of whom had victories against Manny Pacquiao in their pockets, only drew 375,000.

That magnetism might bring Canelo back into the ring with Mayweather, who is halfway through a six-fight deal with Showtime and has announced he will meet Marcos Maidana again on Sept. 13.

Presumably Canelo won't be as confused and tentative as he was last fall.

"I just think it was experience," Chargin said. "People forget how young Canelo is. But right now I would be worried about the Lara fight."

Lara, a skilled 31-year-old lefthander, was the 2005 world amateur champion for Cuba and has only lost once as a pro, to Paul Williams. That decision was so dubious that all three judges were later suspended.

"That's the way Canelo is, though," Chargin said. "He always picks out the tough fights. I didn't think he should have fought Austin Trout, because he had a lot to lose, but he went ahead and won that fight. He has a lot of faith in himself."

Canelo won unanimously over the previously unbeaten Trout, 15 months ago, before 40,000 in San Antonio's Alamodome. Since then Lara also beat Trout, who has told reporters that Lara should handle Canelo without a problem.

If Canelo survives, the drumbeat for a rematch with Mayweather, or a meeting with the resurgent Miguel Cotto will reverberate.

"I don't care about other fights right now," Canelo said. "But I want to do this for 10 more years or so. I like the whole process of it, the training, the dedication. I have a great example (De La Hoya) to follow, a great fighter who became a great businessman.